CLEETHORPES DARTS TOURNAMENT OCTOBER 2007

In October 2007 I went to my first ever darts tournament in Cleethorpes. It was only for the experience and for me to see what the standard of Youth players was; I didn’t expect to get to the final!

We left our home in Redditch at 6.30am to travel a total of three hours north.

In the car the 4 other youth dart players were arguing about which one of them was going to win the boys tournament but none of them expected to be watching me ! As I have only been playing five months I had no thoughts of getting very far in this tournament, even my Dad told me not to expect anything big.

When we arrived at the venue we went in and I was practising my darts nonstop but as the other players started to flood in I got a weird feeling in my stomach. I WAS NERVOUS! They all looked so intimidating in their county shirts and I was just a newcomer!

As the tournament got underway I was looking around and watching the standard of my competition that I was about to face.

As there was a lack of under 18 girls I played a round robin with 4 other girls until the semi finals. In the round robin I won all game 2-0, so my nerves started to die down. However when my name was called out to play in the semis my heart started pounding, I mean how could I ever have imagined getting this far in my first tournament.

We both started scoring quite well but when she began to hit a few sloppy shots I took advantage! My scoring and me being sharp on my doubles managed to seal me 3-1 victory, taking me to the final.

As I parted from my family I stood practising next to my future opponent and my family took a seat next to the stage. I was so nervous but excited at the same time. Next thing I knew music was blaring out and I walked towards the stage, it was only a short walk but it felt like miles away. I was in my zone. People even made a little tunnel arch for me to walk under. I went bright red as everyone’s eyes were on me.

As the game started off with the official shouter I couldn’t miss a treble, but I just could not finish, it was a nerve racking game as it was 1-0,1-1, 1-2, 2-2, and then in the final leg I had sixty left and was feeling confident, my opponent went up and left 36 for her next shot, unfortunately I threw my first dart at the 20 and hit the a treble resulting in me busting my finish. Emily Tye then went on to finish 1^st dart.Of course I was gutted that I had lost but I was overwhelmed that I had got so far.

As the presentation was called I heard my name I was so happy, I had my picture taken with an official, and I held my trophy and smiled - not one of my best !!!!

Then that was it we went home and I just can’t forget it!